Rebel Yell
by SoulViper11192
Summary: A view of Episode 1 of StarCraft through the eyes of a rogue marine. Chap 7: Nick has to make a choice whether or not to stay with Raynor and the Sons of Korhal. Kerrigan tries to infiltrate the Antiga Prime base.
1. Prologue: The Zerg Are Really Annoying

**Memories: Rebel Yell**

**The Story:** Nick Parker, a quick-witted, fast talking, happy-go-lucky confederate marine, was left for death in an infested Command centre. Wanting revenge on General Duke, he aids Raynor and Mengsk in their mission to take the confederacy down.

**Note:** This story takes place during episode I of StarCraft. The plot, planets, encounters, characters, as well as the mission briefings are from the game and are not my own. However, certain dialogue, certain characters (Such as Nick Parker, Annabeth Green, Derrick Stark and Agent Black) and fight scenes are my creation. I'm writing this story, because I've always been fascinated with what it would be like for a soldier in the actual game. So, I decided to write about one soldier who was unluckily included in Mengsk's crazy plot.

**Another Note:** I originally wrote this story, but then stopped for personal reasons. I've decided to repost it. I've made minor adjustments to the part that I had already written, but if you hadn't been reading it before, then I guess that doesn't matter.

**Please Read and Review**

**Prologue: The Zerg Are Really Annoying**

Have you ever woken up one day, find your self locked in a white room with a two way mirror, a single white door, a metal table, cuffed to a chair and two men asking you a bunch of questions that you can only answer: "I don't know"?

Well I have, and let me tell you, it's not exactly a trip to the amusement park. It's boring and a complete waste of time… my time. Anyway, it can't get any worse, right? Wrong! There I was, sitting – like I had a choice – in this interrogation room, minding my own business, when all of a sudden, the alarms sound. The red lights flashed, like police sirens, the alarm blaring through the command centre alerting the men that there was a problem. Then, out of nowhere, two men barge into the room, grab me out of the chair and start moving me – dragging me – down the corridor. People were panicking. Running up and down, left and right, in and out, holding guns, loading guns, it was a war zone and the fighting hadn't even began. Well, that wasn't completely true. I could hear gun-fire coming from outside the building and screaming soldiers dying at the violent attack. I also heard screeching, but didn't bother asking hat it was. I already knew.

We continued walking down the corridors. Then, we came into a room full of cameras, with images flying past them. People were typing away at the keyboards trying to do god-knows-what and the marines outside were getting their liver torn out through the asses. To graphic? Sorry. I turned around to see a man wearing a general uniform turned towards me. He had a mean look on his face, but I think it was because of the scar running down it. He stood up perfectly straight as all soldier do and looked as though he'd seen his fair-share of battles in the past. The soldiers saluted him as he walked in.

"I'd salute you too, but…" I showed him the hand-cuffs. I thought I was making a joke, but by the look on his face, it wasn't the time. "Tough crowd."

"Is this him?" The man's voice was deep.

"Yes sir." The one soldier replied.

"Sir," the woman behind the computer monitor said. She seemed panicked. "They're coming in too quickly."

"How long till the transport arrives?" He asked.

"10 minutes", she replied, her voice a bit faded.

"10 minutes?" I screamed. "We'll be lunch meat by the time that happens."

I probably shouldn't have said that, because I was met with half a dozen cold stares. The general stared at me with a not-so-friendly look. He looked as though he was going to shoot me then and there – or at least debating it. He told us to get outside and secure the landing zone. He ordered the men to take me to a room, filled with armor, ammo and guns. They un-cuffed me and gave me a marine suit, a pistol and an assault rifle. I couldn't have been happier.

"Don't get yourself killed," the older looking one said. "Derrick," the man said to the younger boy who near fainted. "You're teaming up with him. Make sure he doesn't do anything wrong."

I felt like laughing. I'm 26 years old, and this kid looked younger than me. And he's suppose to watch if I do anything wrong. He was petrified of the situation and if I had said "boo" to him, he would have fainted. I loaded my rifle, and turned to him. He had pitch black hair, dark eyes, and a young face. He looked 18 years old, maybe 19.

"Don't worry," I said. He almost jumped out of his suit. "Nothings gonna happen."

"How do you know?" he asked.

I felt like saying _I don't_, but that probably wasn't the best idea. "I just know."

We moved out of the room, up an elevator, which I hate by the way, and outside to a sight you'd usually only see in action movies. That's right; we have cable up in space. Anyway, not the point. The point is that there were missiles flying past us hitting Hydralisks, zerglings running around, attack anything and everything, bullets flying left and right, and god only knows where else. Chaos, misfortune, death, action. This is what I was born and bred for. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a zergling jump for the kid. I'm proud to say that I pointed my gun at it and blew it straight back to hell.

"Let's get going!" I shouted over the noise of the battle.

The kid and I began moving towards the landing zone. We had 5 minutes left before the ships came down. We shot everything that wasn't human and finally made it to the landing zone, where a saw a familiar face. He had short hair and was well built. Averaged sized for an adult and he was clearly the boss, ordering the men to take cover and fire. He turned to me and smirked.

"Well," Raynor said. "If it isn't our little…"

Raynor was interrupted by a message coming in from the radio. The static was too much and all we heard was: "Attack… huge… monster… killing… spaceport…", and then the line went dead.

"We have to get them," the kid said.

Raynor looked at him, as though he as about to say something none of us wanted to hear. In fact, he was about to say something no one wanted us to hear.

"Well!" Derrick screamed.

"I'm thinking," Raynor replied.

"You're thinking?" I shouted. Yes, I know I have a habit of butting in when it's not my place. But what can you do. "Your men are dying and you're thinking?"

"What would you do?" Raynor shouted. "Our ride out of here comes in 2 minutes. We'll never make it back in time. Our men are all probably dead right about now."

I wanted so badly to hit him. But fighting him wouldn't solve anything. I made my decision. "If you won't go, I will."

I ran off, towards the spaceport. Note to self: next time Raynor tells me something, I should listen. What awaited me in that building was an old friend and it was anything but happy.

I walked into the build. There were blood stains all over the metal walls and floors, and half eaten bodies and bloody zerglings, and even a hydralisk lay lifelessly on the cold ground. A bomb had hit this place. I walked through the building, with not a soul the sight. It was way to quiet for my liking and I kept on my guard continuously. And then I made it to the hanger. Wraiths greeted me as I entered the room. And then I looked onto the floor. A puddle of blood lay under a bunch of skeletons; which were… how do I put this… still fresh. It's as though the skin melted right off them, but some guts still stuck on them. There were about five or six of them. I didn't want to get too close. I had a strong stomach. Almost nothing fazed me. But the smell… it was making me nauseous. And that's when I heard it, standing in the shadows. I lifted my gun and prepared to fire.

"Come here boy," I whistled at the beast like it was my dog.

It emerged from the darkness; a hydralisk, but not any hydralisk, but the worst of the worst. This beast's fangs were sharper, blades longer, spit more acidic and at least twice the size of a normal one. These beasts were dubbed, Hunter Killer. The most destructive and ruthless hydralisks this side of the universe. It charged for me and I let it rip. My gun just shot, the blasts echoing through the building. I didn't even look to see if I was doing anything. It came for me and I dove out the way just in time to dodge a gob of spit. The spit melted the metal like fire melting butter. It let off a metallic smell, but with a sickening smell in the mix. Something ticked this thing off. It was more vicious than the last one, trying to slice me with its blades or melt me with its spit, which by the way, I find disgusting. I looked at the Killer, and that's when I saw it; a long scar on its side. That explains why it is more violent than the last one I faced. This was the last one I faced. I'd caused that scar on its body. The lesson I learned that day: Zergs carry grudges… who knew?

It came for me again. "Listen…buddy", I said to the monster. "Lets be honest here, you deserved what you got." I dodged another attack, emptying the ammo I had left onto the creature, "Can't we just bury the hatchet", it spat again. "Apparently not".

I ducked behind a ship and reloaded. I don't know why though, my gun wasn't even tickling the thing. I then looked at what I was leaning on. I had a plan. A dumb, quickly-thought-of, let's-not-analyze-it-too-closely plan, which, in all truthfulness, would probably get me killed. But, it was a plan none-the-less. I placed my rifle away and I jumped in front of the one wraith and started taunting the beast. It attacked me and I just dodged the blade as it penetrated the metal floor. I ran for the wraith at the other end of the room and in no time I was in the ship and looking at the controls. And then came the problem, I must of bunked the class in school that taught us about spaceships. Luckily for me, the Killer was trying to pull his blade out of the ground, but that only bought a little time. _Crap_, I thought, and began pressing all the buttons. The ship unhinged itself from the hinges that held it slightly off the ground. I don't know what happened next, but I was flying straight for the Hydralisk, who had just managed to pry its blade out of the ground. That wasn't my plan at all, but it could work as good as a missile I suppose. I jumped out of the wraith and painfully landed on the floor, rolling a little while. I heard a crash and as I looked up, my wraith had smashed into the Killer's back and plunge it into the ship in front of it. It was now stuck between the two ships, gasping for air. Its acid spit began to drool over the ship and as I looked at what it melting through, I quickly got to my feet. The acid had landed on one of the missiles; just my luck. I ran in the opposite direction and hit the ground as the missile blew the ship up, which consumed the Killer, not to mention causing the other ships to either blow or be flung around. I thought I was a goner. That the building was going to collapse right then and there. Explosion after explosion, metal hitting metal. Finally, the racket had stopped and I looked up. The place was a mess. Metal, guts, blood and a blade lay all over the floor. I climbed to my feet and looked at the huge whole in the side of the wall. I could see the landing zone, but no-one was there anymore. They must of left. I turned around and saw a single wraith standing. I am one lucky bastard. I climbed in, made myself familiar with the controls, and took off.

I flew to catch up with the transport and when I found them, I found some old friends to. Four Confederate wraiths had surrounded one of the transports. I took this opportunity and shot two missiles, blowing the two wraths right out of the sky. Two down, two to go. The others noticed very quickly I was behind them and began to retaliate. Soon my radio came on. I thought it was the fighters, but…

"Who the hell is this?" Raynor's voice came over the radio.

"I'm the guy who's saving your ass," I replied, laughing. I knew that he would know who I was now.

"Nick? Are you insane?" Raynor screamed, "You're a marine, not a pilot. They'll blow you out of the sky."

"As of two days ago," I said, "I was discharged. I can be whatever I want"

The two ships came from my front and we all began shooting. I twirled around, dodging some of the blasts, while I shot back at the men. The good news: I sent another one crashing down to the ground. The bad news…

"I'm hit!" I screamed over the radio. I didn't panic though. I never panic.

"What do you want us to do about it?" Raynor said, as the last wraith flew off. He'd be back.

I thought for a second. I saw a knife in the ship. I picked it up and then looked at the transport ships. I exhaled loudly. "I can't believe I'm doing this", I whispered to myself as I picked up the radio. "Raynor, I need you to come under me, a little to the left."

"Why?" he questioned.

"Just do it!" I screamed. Okay, I lied above. I'm panicking. Raynor's ship came under me just like I asked. I could see it. I lowered my ship and in turn, Raynor lowered his. I removed my breathing mask and opened the glass covering me. And then I saw it coming towards my left side; the last wraith coming for me, shooting at my ship. I can't believe I did what I did. And more surprisingly, I can't believe I survived. I had un-strapped myself and turned the ship towards the oncoming wraith, full speed ahead. And then, as quickly as I could, I jumped out and with knife in hand, slammed against the transport ship. Let me tell you kids, don't try this at home. It hurts like a bitch. And as I slide off, I jabbed the blade into the ship and just held on tight. I heard an explosion go off, looked up, and saw my plan was successful. My wraith had collided with the oncoming one and blew both of them to smithereens. Then I just hung there. Holding my knife and waving through the air like a flag. We didn't land to get me in. We were close to the base, so I just stayed there until we landed, which at that time, I was arrested and then sent to another cozy interrogation room; hooray for me.

I sat there, with two people questioning me about what happened two days prior to the incident I'd just escaped from. In case you're wondering, the incident they're asking about is why they arrested me in the first place. They think I'm to blame for the deaths of their marines, which was a false complaint. They asked me to explain what happened and eventually I decided _what the hell_. I began to explain the events leading up to now and how I met Raynor, the magistrate and their men.


	2. Chapter 1: It's Just One Of Those Days

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**Critisism, opinions, suggestions or anything else is welcome. Just please review.**

**Chapter 1: It's Just One Of Those Days**

_32 Hours before the evacuation incident (The Prologue)_

You know it's going to be one of those days, when the first two words that come out of your tall, masculine, idiotic General's mouth are…

"You're fired." The voice was like a rock that had been thrown at me shattering my world. The voice had come from my general, or ex-general, General White. The worst boss you'll ever have in the world. He has grey hair, a moustache that looks like a ferret and is quite tall. His brown eyes look like they could pierce through metal, and his mean expression, which never changes, looks as though it could petrify someone. But, in truth, I really don't fear him one bit. He sat at his desk in his fancy office. A samurai sword – his prized possession – was in a glass case behind him.

"What?!" I protested, climbing out of my chair. If it hadn't been for Claire grabbing my arm, I would have jumped over the desk and pummeled the general.

"You and your squad are being discharged from the army," he replied, making me angry.

"Why?" I shout, feeling my anger rise.

"Why?" the general said with a cocky tone. "Because you disobeyed direct orders, crossed enemy lines, almost gave them our location." he then picked up a chart, and as he read, surprise came to his face. "You destroyed a perfectly good battlecruiser!" he said in shock as he read it for the first time. "How the hell did you even get your hands on one of our battlecruisers?"

I felt like joking around and saying: _That's on a need to know basis_. But, that would have annoyed him more, so I held back. After a couple of hours of useless and unnecessary screaming, we were told: "Leave my presence at once" and "Go pack your things. I want you off this base by morning."

We walked out of his office and headed down the corridor. People cheered us on like we were heroes and honestly, we were. The reason for this was because some of our men were kidnapped by a rebel group, known as The Sons of Korhal. My team is a special group of marines all mastering in something or another. We go on missions that even the certain ghosts won't touch and we always come back. Half dead, maybe, but we still come back. My team and I were ordered not to go after them, but we weren't exactly famous for following the rules. But, we did manage to save all our men and only one guy got badly injured. In my book, that's a success from our usual state of returning. But, our o-so-loving general thinks otherwise. He's never liked me, since I stole his glory when I was a recruit. But that's other story for another day.

"I can't believe this!" I shouted, "Its bullshit!"

"Calm down Nick," Claire, the only girl of my team, said as we walked along. Clair was an attractive blonde, with beautiful blue eyes and a great aura around her, which brightens anyone's day. She is, however, part of my group, making her as much as a fairy princess as one of those Hydralisks. Piss this girl off, and there will be hell to pay. Her special thing was hand to hand combat. She knew five different styles of fighting, and with her slim body, it to was easy for her do her ninja tricks. And let me warn you, she is not above breaking both arms and legs and then leaving you to be eaten by wild animals.

"Don't tell me to calm down," I replied, though it didn't sound as tough as I'd hoped. Ever since I met Claire, she had this way of keeping me calm. In fact, if it wasn't for her, I'd been kicked out of the army long ago. We'd been through a lot together. I met her the first day I joined the army. Even back then, she was a feisty one. She was recruited to see how women would cope as marines. She did way better than expected.

"Hey man," a deep voice said next to me. "You should listen to her". That voice belonged to Jason. Claire and I met him a year after we met each other. He is a bit taller than me. He has this long face, brown eyes and brown hair. Isn't the most attractive person, but he's my second in command as well as my best friend. Or should I say was my best friend. His ability was mechanics. This guy could fix a machine using twigs if he had to. He was also an expert at driving.

"I agree," another man said behind me. This guy was Johnny. A Chinese guy, who used to do Sumo wrestling, so you can guess that he isn't the smallest of the group. In fact, he isn't small at all. He's huge and looks scary, with a bald head and a black beard, but he's one of the friendliest people you could meet. Well, on certain occasions at least. He was the fourth member of the team. I met him when Claire, Jason and I went on a mission, attacking a base, with some other guys. He was a body guard to a general there, and let's just say, it wasn't my greatest hour when I fought him. He beat me too a pulp. If it wasn't for Jason and Claire showing up, he would have killed me. Yes, I know it's weird that a guy who almost killed me is on my team, but long story short, he also saved my life.

The fifth member of the team, Jeremy, just nodded. Don't ask me why, but he never talks. I met him last year, while scouting. He was out in the wastelands and if we hadn't found him, he would be food for the scavenges. Even back then, he wouldn't talk. The only reason we knew his name, because it was written on his stuff. But despite his, um, problem, he was a great marine and a genius. The stuff he could do with a computer was mad. He showed me things that I didn't even know a computer could do. He was also good at gadgets and junk like that. Seeing as no one wanted him in their team, because he wouldn't talk, I took him into my group. These guys were more than my group, they were my family. Too bad, that would be the last I saw of them.

"How can you guys be so calm?" I asked. "We just got kicked out. And after we rescued 25 men." I reminded them. "Not 1 guy, or 5 guys, but 25 marines"

"And that should be enough." Claire responded. "Besides, if you really need something to do, we could become mercenaries."

"Yeah!" Jason agreed. "I heard they make tons of cash."

I just smiled at the enthusiasm of my team. Always looking at the bright side of everything. I think that's one of the reasons that we always make it home alive.

"Sounds good to me," Johnny added. "How 'bout you Jem?"

For those who don't know, Jem is Jeremy. Since Jem came into our team, Johnny has made it his life's goal to get Jem to say something. We all laughed and even Jem cracked a smile. It was a hopeless cause.

"Maybe you guys are right," I finally agreed. "Well, guess we should go pack our things."

We all headed for our rooms. Being a special team, we traveled to different bases; where we had special rooms for us, even in the backwater station posts, and only had to share a room with one person. I bunked with Jason, while Johnny bunked with Jem. He insisted on doing so; because he thought it make it easier for Jem to talk. That's going well. Claire, on the other hand bunked with another girls in the base at that time, and at this specific base, it was one of her old friends, named Annabeth Green. The girl was a ghost. Ghosts, for those who don't know could be summed up as _psychic assassins. _To be quite honest, I despise them. They can read your thoughts, which I hate with a passion. I've only met Annabeth a couple of times and she seems nice. I just don't like being around people who can read minds. It freaks me out, not to mention the lack of privacy.

When I got to my room, I dumped my junk and hit the showers. Once I was done there, I got dressed, wearing those army pants they wear on earth and a white vest. I came back to my room, and fell onto my bed. The smell of disinfectants covered the room. Jason placed this stuff all around our room, which is guaranteed to kill any life form that wasn't human. He always said: "I'm getting dirt on me out in the field. I don't need it in my room too". I looked at him lying on his bed a few feet away. He was busy reading one of his mechanical books.

"You are such a nerd", I teased Jason.

"Well at least I'm smarter than you," he said. "Why do you think I'm still alive"

"Because I'm there to save your ass," I laughed. My specialty of the team was shooting and strategizing, not to mention my fortunate luck.

"I bet," he joked.

"What you reading anyway?" I asked. Note to self and warning to the rest of you: If you ever meet a guy like Jason, do not, at any moment in time, ask: "What you reading".

That got him started, as he explained a bunch of words I didn't even know existed, never mind the fact I didn't know the meanings. I continued listening to him lecture me on how the gears work, and the mechanics of a super Vulture vehicle, but at some point I must have dosed off, because the next thing I knew, I was awoken by a scream.

I drew my handgun from under my pillow. At the bottom of my bed, there was a little creature, like a big bug, standing there. In fact, it looked like a cross between a grasshopper and a mutated dog. These things were known as zerglings. Friendly little critters. It jumped for me, but I blew it away. I turned to Jason, who looked like he was in pain. He was standing and moving around, like something was eating his insides. He tried to call my name, as I watched in horror. And then he began to turn into some mutant, slowly being drained of his humanity. And that's when he really shocked me. He drew his hand gun, placed it in his mouth and as I screamed "NO!" pulled the trigger. A bang went off and the wall behind him was splattered with blood. He fell to the ground as I just stood their, watching. I looked at his blood, and the strange thing was it was a very dark shade of red. I stood there, a million thoughts crossing my mind as I moved over to my deceased friend. I didn't know what to make of the situation, and as I felt the tears in my eyes filling up, I turned to the door, and that's when I saw it. Something was growing there, trying to come in. I picked up my assault rifle and opened the door to discover a sight that would haunt the devil's nightmares. These things that looked like giant tentacles traveled down the corridor, and it looked like it was breathing. But that wasn't the worst of it. Mangled bodies of my comrades littered the floor, bloody and missing certain body parts.

I had walked around for minutes, looking it the rooms of people, finding them dead or gone and the room covered with that weird life form. So why hadn't it affected my room so badly? I though for a moment, but I moved on. And then I walked into the cafeteria. Food lay everywhere, plates all over the place and the occasional dead body. And then I saw it, or them. Three hydralisks entered the room and the worst part is that they were all staring straight at me. They moved for me and I began firing. My bullets hurt the one that I was aiming for, but then it was time for me to move, so I ran, trying to dodge as much as I could. They spat acid all around, but I rolled away. I continued firing at the one I had hit from before, and finally, it went down.

Now I had two left. They both came for me, obviously anger at me. I fired again, but ran out of bullets. Damn! The one tried to bite me, moving its head down, but I dodged. But as it lifted its head up, it flung it towards me, sending me backwards over the table and onto a bunch of chairs. I was on the floor, covered with chairs. I pulled myself up and as I got to my knees, it tried to eat me…again. What's with this thing? Do I look like a hamburger? I rolled out of the way and landed next to a dead marine, with my hand on his back. It quickly got to my feet. Call me a kill joy, but I'm not to big on touching the dead guys. But then I noticed the marine's belt filled with at least six grenades. I yanked the belt and thanked the dead guy. What can I say, I'm polite. I ran a couple of steps back, and as it approached, it opened its mouth and I saw my chance. I pulled the pin out of one of the grenades, and tossed the entire belt into its mouth, which it swallowed rather quickly. I turned to run and ran into the second hydralisk. I completely forgot about this one. Where'd he been all battle? It lifted its claw and plunged it towards me. I practical rolled back, and got to my knees. I drew my rifle and was about to shoot, when the hydralisk behind me blew. While the actual blast turned the monster into slushy, the impacted, being so close and off guard, sent me flying.

Those were what we can ion grenades. The blast will incinerate you, but it also creates a shock wave strong enough to lift anything, depending how close you are. In my case, I was flung over the tables, smashed against the wall so hard I got the air knocked out of me and I could have sworn that I'd broke my spine. It hit the floor hard as well, seeing as I was at a height. After that, my sight went blurry, and as the hydralisk approached, I passed out. It's just one of those days.

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**Please Review If You're Reading. Just to let me know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 2: Our Command Centre Goes Boom

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**Critisism, opinions, suggestions or anything else is welcome. Just please review.**

**Chapter 2: Our Command Centre Goes Boom**

I slowly felt myself become conscious. I tried to remember what had happened, but nothing came back to me; at least, not in that minute. And that's when it happened, my memories came back all at once. I flung my eyes wide open, rose to my knees and pointed my handgun at the remaining hydralisk. Make that, the dead hydralisk. There it lay on the floor, its head halve blown off. Blood drained from its corpse, just lying there. And that's when she walked in; a black haired girl, with greens eyes, and a familiar face; an extremely familiar face.

"Oh crap," I said as I rose to my feet. The girl was none other than Annabeth, Claire's roommate. She was a ghost, and a feisty one at that. She would tell anyone what you were thinking, even if it was the most embarrassing thing in this galaxy. She walked over to me with both hands full. In the one, she held her own standard issue Ghost's C-10 Canister Rifle and in the other hand my assault rifle.

"Well that's no way to say thank you," a British accent escaped from her mouth. "After all, I just saved your life."

"Thanks," I joked, holding out my hand for my gun. "What's going on around here?"

"Why would you assume I'd know that?" She threw my rifle into my stomach.

As I grabbed the rifle, I looked at her with one of those _you're kidding_ faces. "You know everything."

"Yes, well," she started, "It appears the zerg have taken our base."

"And you're calm about this because?" I asked.

"Listen", hear voice got serious. "Are we going to stand around here all day analyzing me or get the hell out of here?"

"Fine." I agreed as I prepared to reload my rifle.

"Don't bother," she said. "I already did it."

I smiled, as we left the room. I liked the way she thought of everything, but I could never do that. I'm more of a go-with-the-flow type of guy. Don't get me wrong, a plan is always good to have. But you'll soon see that it never goes my way. We carried on down the corridor. It was weird that we hadn't been attacked yet. We had to get to the first floor. We were currently on the fifth out of 12 floors. The twelfth floor being where the station was controlled. We arrived at the elevators, which I thought was easy, too easy. And then I looked at the control. They'd been smashed. More liked chewed actually, but the point is, we weren't getting out this way.

"We can always pry the door open and climb down the ladder," I suggested.

"Are you bloody mad!" she screamed. "The stairs are a few more feet away, now come on."

The door for the stairs was practically right next to us and seemed like the easiest way to go. Well, if I ever see her again, I plan to tell Annabeth how wrong she was. We entered the staircase. As we made our way down, which was easy enough, we turned to go down the next flight of stairs and that when we saw them. Zerglings crowded the rest of the stair way. They went all the way down as though they were actually waiting for us. They began approaching slowly and we bolted. We sped up the stairs like there was no tomorrow and if these things caught us, there would be no tomorrow. We ran as fast as we could and got to the tenth floor, at which point we decided to enter the floor. We needed security clearance, which my ghost companion had. We shut the door and it locked itself. The zerglings could be heard scratching the door, but we ignored it.

We took a moment to breath. "What now, geniuses?" I hissed at her.

She grinned. I think irritating me was a sport for her. "We could always take the elevator from here."

"That's a plan," I stood up.

"Nick?"

I faced her. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" She randomly asked.

"Fine," I replied, confused. "Why?"

"It's just…" And then we heard gunfire.

"Now what?" I moaned as we ran towards the gunfire.

We turned the corner to see two marines, with heavy armor and heavier guns, shooting at a giant hydralisk. That was the biggest one I'd seen yet and wasn't going down. We ran up to it and began shooting along with the marines. And, as luck would have it, a couple of zerglings decide to come as back up. We were shooting as much as we could, reloading and then firing again. There were too many.

"Who the hell are you?" screamed one marine, who'd I'd later know as Raynor.

"It looks like we're the ones saving your ass!" I screamed over the gunfire. This hydralisk just wasn't going down. Annabeth must have either read my thoughts or was thinking the same thing.

"It's not dying," she screamed. "Leave now! I'll take care of it."

"Are you insane!" I screamed back.

"Just go!" she gave me a look. I knew that look. The first time I met her was on the battle field. She had the same look when she told us she'd destroy the enemy's barracks single-handed. And she did it.

"Fine," I reluctantly agreed and turned to the two marines. "Let's get going."

"And leave her here?" the other marine was concerned.

"She knows what she's doing!" I said, not sounding convinced.

As we were about to move, Annabeth stopped me. "Nick," she sighed, "I wanted to say – before, while we were going to the elevator - that I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For this." She handed me a picture. I stopped breathing when I looked at it. I had just realized why she had asked if I was okay before. I wasn't. "I know what they meant to you."

I just looked at her. I didn't have to say what I was thinking and she didn't have to read my mind either. She could see it on my face. 'You're welcome," she stated. "Now go!"

The marines followed me as I took off. We took the corner and ran down towards a weapons room on this level. We arrived in no time. Another smaller hydralisk awaited us, with about six zerglings. I must say, with back up, they were easy to take down. Raynor tossed a grenade, injuring the hydralisk and taking out three zerglings. We gunned the rest down. We ducked into the weapons room and stayed there for awhile. I didn't realized how much my body ached from before. The marines stared at me as I sat on the floor, hoping that Annabeth was okay. My mind went to Claire and the rest of the team and then it hit me. They were all gone. I just realized that I was never going to see them again. My body tensed, my sorrow becoming anger. I had just realized that my friends, no, my family was dead. Killed. Murdered. Slaughtered. Or worse. I wanted to snap the next zerglings neck that I caught. I wanted to pound the wall. I wanted to blow them straight to hell. After a while, the one marine said…

"Are you okay man?" He obviously noticed my face had gone red with anger.

"Do I look okay?" I snapped.

"Look," the other said. "My name is Jim Raynor, and you are?"

"Nick," I replied. "Nick Parker."

"Well Parker," he started. "We have to destroy this base, before these things ca…"

"Zerg. These _things_ are called Zerg."

"Okay, but we have to destroy this base. Any ideas how?"

I thought for a second. "Well…" I stood up. "We can always set the self destruct mode on the base. If the elevator here works, we can use it to go up and then back down to the entrance, and hopefully escape."

"Sounds like a plan," the unnamed marine said.

We stocked up on ammo and got the latest weapons in the room. I got the most improved C-14 "Impaler" Gauss Rifle I could find; improved accuracy, more bullets and a bigger punch. We left the room and proceeded towards the elevator, which was a simple task. We made it and thank god, the controls were working perfectly. We entered the one, and it started to rise, but suddenly stopped. We all balanced our selves, and as everything went silent, I could hear a noise coming for us. It sounded like metal hitting metal that was coming down on us. And then an explosion went off right above the metal box. It was a grenade I thought, and I'll bet a million bucks on the person who threw it didn't expect it to blow so soon.

The elevator shook as the boom went off and it fell. This was it, I thought. Suddenly, we all fell to the ground as it stopped. My heart sank. What the hell was going on around here? As though the zerg weren't bad enough. I looked at the ceiling and opened the hatch, climbing to the top of the elevator, which was slanting, being hanged over the darkness below by a cord. Raynor climbed out next and then the other marine. I could tell by the creaking, this elevator wasn't going to hold on for long. I had seen that the top floor elevator door was opened.

"Who ever tried to kill us is in there," I pointed out. "I should go first."

"Why? He probably thinks we're zerg." the marine said. "I'll straighten this out"

He began climbing, but I didn't bother to object. Raynor was next. As I approached, the elevator moved again and I fell on my stomach and rolled down the side that was slanting downwards, which was, with my luck, the opposite side of the ladder. I steadied myself and as I got up, the cord had snapped. I closed my eyes, waiting for me to plunge to my death. I opened them slowly and looked around. The way it was slanting, the elevator was stuck. But it was losing its grip rapidly. I moved for the ladder and the elevator freed itself and began to fall. I jumped from practically the middle of the elevator and caught the ladder. I looked up and those jerks didn't even bother to watch incase I died. They were half way to the top already. I started climbing as I heard the elevator slam into the ground. I hate elevators.

I climbed the ladder thinking of how I was going to kill those two when I got there. I regretted saying that, because the next thing I knew, a gunshot went off, followed by Raynor screaming "NO". I looked up and the other marine's body fell right past me. I looked down in shock, then up when I heard another shot looked up, just in time to notice Raynor's gun falling for me. I moved to the one side of the ladder and dodged the gun. I looked up to see Raynor hanging on by one hand. I raced up the ladder and I was almost there. I looked up to see someone dragging Raynor's body into the room. I felt myself practically fly up the ladder. I got to the top and looked over the ledge, to have a pistol pointed at me. It was none other than General White. Oh joy. This should be an experience to share with the kids.

"Parker?" he smiled, though there was nothing happy about it. I could smell alcohol on his breath. "So nice of you to join us."

I climbed up the ledge as he backed off. I saw Raynor on the floor. He seemed knocked out, but not dead. But if he didn't get medical attention on that wound - which was on the right of his chest by the way – that would change.

"Drop your guns down the shaft!" He ordered, still pointing the pistol. I did what he asked, dropping my rifle as well as my two handguns. "And the spare?" he said. Damn, he may be drunk, but he hasn't bordered on stupid yet. I chucked that gun away too. "Do you know that I envy you, Parker?" He stated in his drunken state, which seemed eerily calm.

"Who doesn't?" I joked, moving to the one solid wall next to the elevator. If he was going to shoot me, I didn't want to tumble down the shaft as well.

"You have this way of stealing the spot light all the time." he placed the pistol on the table, pressed a button that closed the elevator doors and picked up his prized samurai sword. Prick. He was going to slice and dice me. "You stole my spotlight when you were just a rookie."

"What can I say?" I answered. "I just got lucky."

"Indeed." He agreed, drawing the blade from its metal cover. "I could never get as lucky as you and for that I hate you."

"And you plan to slice me up?"

"Yes, yes I do." He approached, dropping the cover, and gripping the sword with both hands. "Just tell me one thing. Why do you get the credit and I don't?"

"You mean besides the fact you're a complete psycho?" I said.

He chuckled. It seemed almost evil. "Time to die, Nick." He said as he raised the sword above his head and swung it downwards towards my head. I moved out the way as he hit the wall. He swung it for my head, but I ducked. He swung downwards and I dodged again, but could feel the wind go past. He raised it again, but I grabbed his hands with one of mine and pushed my shoulder of the other arm at him. Still trying to keep his sword from coming down, I ran forward with all the strength I could muster, hitting his back into the elevator doors. If only they were still open. It worked better than I thought though. He released both his hands from the sword, forcing me to release my grip on his hands. The sword hit the ground as I started slamming my fist into the general's gut. But he grabbed my hands after a couple of hits and head-butted me. That hurt. I moved back a bit and he punched me in the face once and the stomach twice. I swung my fist for his face, but he blocked it and hit me back. He kneed me in the stomach and then kicked me away. I was never good at this combat stuff and it became clear when a drunken guy was kicking my ass.

I raised my head to him, just to be hit by something hard. At first I thought it was a lead pipe, but it turned out to be the cover of the sword. Luckily, the drunken general lost his grip and it flew out of his hands after he'd hit me. Unluckily, he picked up a chair and pummeled it into my back. For the record, I'm getting tired of my spine getting clobbered. I managed to stay on my hands and knees, but he hit me again. I hit the floor. He moved away and got his sword and by the time I'd turned on my back, he was looming above me. He stood by my feet, glaring at me with his wicked eyes. He raised his sword.

"Where's that luck of yours Nick?" White asked, about to swing his blade.

"Behind you, asshole!" A voice said as the sound of six bullets going off echoed through the room. The bullets penetrated the general one by one. He dropped his sword to his side and fell backwards, hitting the floor hard.

I let my head fall back and breathed for a minute. "Thanks," I said to Raynor as he walked past me. He didn't seem to be in pain.

"You're welcome," he replied, doing something on the control panel. "Ok, this thing will take off in five minutes and self-destruct in ten minutes."

"Good," I said, rising to my feet. "Let's use the second elevator to go down. Provided someone doesn't try to kill us again, we'll make it out in one piece." As I said that, it had hit me. I turned to Raynor to see his face saddened. "Um… I'm sorry about your teammate."

"I lost four good men today," he said.

"So did I," I replied, looking at the picture of my team Annabeth had given me. That was our first mission with all five of us.

As we were about to leave, a radio came on. "Are you still there general?" the voice came. It was Duke's voice. No doubt about it.

"General Duke!" I said yelled. "You have to send a crew to save us!"

"Nick Parker?" Duke seemed surprised. "I'll be damned. You still alive down there?"

"Yes," I said, kind of proud. "But we're dead if you don't come."

"That's a negative boy," Duke replied to my surprise. "You're on your own Parker." The radio went dead.

"That son-of-a-bit…" I was interrupted by Raynor who said we'd have to go.

Raynor and I took the elevator down to the first floor. No distractions, no problems. It was perfect. I hate when things are perfect. It usually means something's about to go wrong. But what could go wrong, I thought sarcastically, we're two marines, armed with a handgun each and a sword I borrowed from my ex-general. I didn't think he'd mind. We walked out of the front door, or the big hole that use to be the front door. We turned at watched as the command centre removed itself from the ground and began to rise. And that's when the perfect died, because out of the big hole, to our surprise, jumped out the big hydralisk from before. This thing doesn't give up. Honestly, I thought Annabeth had taken care of it. Wait, where is Annabeth? This thing stared straight at us as the building behind it rose up. It looked at Raynor and then it attacked. We rolled out the way of its blade. It spat its acid at Raynor, who managed to roll out of the way. I drew my blade and plunged it into his side. It raised its head up and growled a bit… or it could have been yelling. I pulled my sword out and ran when it swung its blade, which hit me on its side. It was hard, but better than being impaled. Raynor fired at the beast, grabbing his attention. It attacked him, but he managed to make it to my side.

"Listen," I said. "Its neck is a soft spot."

"Great," Raynor replied. "But it's shielded by its big head."

"Don't worry," I said. "Just distract it for a minute longer."

We ran around, trying to stay clear of becoming lunch. Finally, we came together again.

"What are we waiting for?" Raynor asked.

"Just shoot its neck when you get the chance," I said, handing my gun to Raynor. Now he had two handguns. "You'll know when the chance comes."

And then it happened. The beast approached, but was distracted by a blast in the sky. The command centre blew, causing a giant firework in the sky, and gave me my chance. I ran for the beast and slashed it with my blade. As it penetrated its skin, I dragged it across the beast and released it. It growled again and just as I assumed, it lifted its head again, facing the sky, howling… or what ever the hell it was doing.

"Now!" I ordered.

Raynor needed no more motivation. He emptied the guns on the beast's neck. It gargled its blood a bit, before it fell dead to the ground. I fell on my butt and just looked at the beast. I looked at the sky where the command centre was – to see debris falling – then lowered my head. I could have sworn I saw Annabeth for a second, grinning as always. But as I blinked she was gone. A bunch of marines showed up minutes later. Typical, the cavalry arrives after the problems been dealt with. They gave Raynor a radio. The voice that came over it was all too familiar.

"Marshal Raynor, by destroying a vital Confederate installation, you and your men have violated standing colonial law," General Duke's voice came from the radio. "As of right now, you're all under arrest. I suggest you throw down your weapons and come peaceably."

"Are you outta your mind?" Raynor screamed back, "If we hadn't burned that damn factory, this entire colony could have been overrun! Maybe if you hadn't taken your sweet time in getting here."

"Now I asked you nice the first time boy," Duke replied. "I didn't contact your base to have a nice talk with you. Now throw down them weapons!"

"Guess you wouldn't be a Confederate if you weren't a complete pain in the ass."

I grabbed the radio, "Duke, you bastard, I'm going to kill you."

"N-Nick?" Duke said shocked. "You're with Raynor."

"Damn straight. And when your boys come to pick him and his crew up, make sure you're with them so I can bury you."

"Listen boy," he said. "I'm a general. You don't scare me. Fear is not in my vocabulary."

"No", I agreed. "But it's in your voice. Mark my words Duke, we WILL meet again, and when we do, I'm going to rip your head off."

He started saying something, but I turned the radio off. Everyone stared at me as my freak out had ended.

"What?" I asked. "I hate traitors"

And so, about forty hours had past and I was I an interrogation room. But, as I finished telling the two soldiers the story above, I was asked to accompany them. I got out of my chair and followed them. _Now what?_ was the only thought that rang through my head.

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	4. Chapter 3: I'm Made An Offer

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**Chapter 3: I'm Made An Offer**

I sat in another room, which had couches instead cold chairs, for about 2 hours this time. It was much more comfortable than the interrogation room at the base, that's for sure. More home-like. Pot plants and books and a TV lay around, but my mind kept drifting back to my team, so I didn't do much. By the way, we weren't at the base anymore. Well, we were, but we weren't on Mar Sara anymore. We had taken off, but for some reason, we were hovering over the planet. I found this odd, because I would have left this place as quickly as possible. After all, we were outlaws. I got bored of sitting around and decided to see if the door was locked. Amazingly, it wasn't. I walked through the corridors. There was always something about the command centre floating in space that I liked. It was calm outside. No shooting or screaming. Just peaceful. It's a nice change from my ordinary life. I walked right past soldiers and they didn't even stop me. They did however begin whispering to each other. I knew they were talking about me, but I didn't know why. I was getting annoyed by everyone now. They all stared at me like I was an alien of some kind that had made its way into the ship. I searched a bit and came to a door where two people were talking. I knew one was Raynor, but the other, though familiar, I couldn't put a face to it. I was about to open the door when I heard my name. I put my ear against the door.

"He's quite impressive," the familiar voice said. "If what this report says is true, that is?"

"Do you think we can trust him?" Raynor asked. "He is confederate."

What is this guy, an idiot? I just got blown-off by my general and he expects me to turn on him? How low does he think confederates will go? On second thought, don't answer that question.

"I don't know," the familiar voice replied. "We were confederates too. He seems to have been helping us up 'til now."

"Yes, but we aren't like them. And if he didn't help us, he'd be dead too. So you can't say he did it to because he felt like being kind."

"True. Very true. But this report says that he's never been one to follow rules."

Where had I heard that voice before? And how the hell did they get a report of me? I had thought for a while, but couldn't come up with anything. My thought was interrupted when the computer in the room went on and began saying…

"Your tenure as Colonial Magistrate is suspended," the computer (AKA, Advisor) informed the magistrate, "pending an official investigation of your affiliation with the Sons of Korhal," the advisor waited for awhile. "Receiving incoming transmission..."

"Commander," another calm, yet familiar voice said. "Mar Sara is almost completely overrun by the Zerg. The Confederates are abandoning the planet, and so are we. However, there is one thing I'd like to do before we leave the planets orbit."

I thought about the voice for a second and then it hit me. The Sons of Korhal, which is Arcturus Mengsk's group. I had a few run-ins with him myself, but could never finish him off.

"I want you to raid this colony's Confederate outpost," Mengsk continued, "and retrieve whatever design or weapons' schematics that you can find in their networks. With the chaos of the Confederates' evacuation, you shouldn't have any trouble getting in or out of their installation."

"I'm into it." Raynor was quick too agree.

"Good," Mengsk replied. "Now, I've heard rumors of you having a rogue confederate on your ship. A single survivor of that infested command centre… excluding Raynor that is."

"That's true," the ex-magistrate answered. "Why?"

"He could be of use to us," Mengsk replied. "If he truly is against the confederates…"

I opened the door and walked in, calmly. It was a room filled with high tech equipment leaning against the walls as well as a big screen where Mengsk could be seen. Computers were scattered everywhere, though for what reason was the mystery. I looked at Mengsk. He still had that annoying beard and his hair was pushed back. But, the on thing I hated about him was his intelligent eyes and that annoying smirk of his.

"Don't worry," I interrupted him, ignoring Raynor and the magistrate. "I'm done working for them."

"Nick Parker," he said calmly. "Why am I not surprised to see you are the survivor?"

"You two know each other?" the magistrate asked, which turned out to be the general I had met before. You know the one with the scar on his face. He seemed less tense this time.

"Yes," Mengsk quickly answered. "We've had our run-ins with each other." His eyes turned to me. "I don't mean this to sound like _I told you so_, but I did warn you that you'd be betrayed by your own team."

"Shut up!" I snapped.

"Someone's in a good mood," Mengsk got sarcastic.

"Listen, I didn't come here to argue. I want a way out of here. Can you drop me of at the next planet or something?"

"No", Mengsk quickly said. "We are far to busy to do that…"

He had paused for a bit. "I'm sensing an _unless_ followed by a proposal"

"You were always clever." Mengsk complimented me, but with notable sarcasms. "Here's my proposal. You help Raynor get what we need and I'll have my men arrange a wraith, so you can leave."

I thought for a minute. "I get to keep the marine suit and guns."

"Deal." he said, satisfied.

"Fine, we'll be leaving soon." Raynor told me, "Get ready and meet me by the transport."

It took me a couple of minutes to get ready. I got suited up and retrieved the gun I had back on the planet, so I guess it was mine to keep anyway. I also got two handguns, extra magazines and normal grenades. I was ready to kick ass. I made my way through the building, but ran into a girl. She couldn't have been more than 18-years-old. What the hell was she doing here?

"Sorry," I apologized.

"It's okay," she smiled. She has deep blue eyes, but they looked familiar. There was a power to them that I'd seen before. She had short blonde hair and was slim and, in all honesty, a beautiful girl. Her face had innocence that you don't see now-a-days. She was holding a medical book. "You're the confederate?"

"If I say yes, are you going to shoot me?" I joked.

"No," she said. "If my father hasn't shot you yet, then don't worry?"

"Your father?"

"The magistrate. Well, ex-magistrate."

Scar-face is this girl's father? That explains the eyes. "I'm Nick…Nick Parker."

"Samantha Marsh. But you can call me Sam."

My eyes traveled to her book. "You're a medic?"

She smiled at the book. "No, not yet. Training to be."

"Cool. But it's dangerous out there."

"I know. But I've grown up in harsh conditions. I'll make it."

"Well, if you ever need help, try to find me."

"I'll do that," she smiled and turned. "Bye Nick Parker."

I watched as she walked away and decided to get moving. I came to the transport, where six guys, which included Raynor and the young kid, Derrick Stark, were waiting. They were all wearing standard issue marine suits and had a gauss rifle and one hand, with a few grenades each. Honestly, it didn't matter what weapons they had, but that's later in the story.

"About time," the one commented as I walked over, rifle in hand.

I stared at the guy for awhile, debating if I should shoot him. I decided against it and turned to Raynor. "This is the team?" I asked. "Seven guys against the defenses of the platform?" I leaned forward to him and whispered this next part into his ear. "And did you have to choose the kid?"

"Yes," Raynor answered softly as he moved away, forcing him to raise his voice a little. "Why? You scared we won't make it?"

I laughed a bit. "I'm going to make it," I assured them. "I could do this on my own. It's your men I'm worried about."

"Well don't," he replied. "They can handle themselves."

"Good," I said, entering the transport.

It took us about 20 minutes to make it to the installation. The drop-ship came down and landed. The team of _"highly trained"_ marines jumped out first and then I followed. We were on a platform, a big metal platform, with giant walls and mechanical doors, and a bunch of confederates running around. We decided to walk through the first door and continued walking. I was in front of the group and suddenly stopped, everyone hitting into each other like cars in a pile up.

"What the hell!" The biggest and most arrogant one of the group said. Well, he seemed arrogant, but it might be just because he hates me.

"Well?" Another one said, annoyed. "Are we going to move?"

"Please shut up," I said, as I pulled a pin out of a grenade and waited.

"Aren't you going to throw it?" Derrick got nervous.

"Not yet," I replied calmly.

"Oh crap!" One screamed. "Get back. The crazy bastard is suicidal!"

I smiled a bit, as the there were about three seconds left to throw it. I looked at the side of one wall, concentrating on the metal. For someone who had never been here, they wouldn't look at it the way I did. I could see the thin openings in the walls. I also knew they worked on motion sensors. I threw the grenade. The wall turned and as the missiles were about to shoot, my grenade exploded. The explosion caused the rockets to blow, taking out the one turret and blowing the one next to it up from the inside out. Metal pieces started hitting the floor and, even though I didn't see them, I knew the team was watching, surprised at how I knew that the turrets were there.

"Firstly," I said aloud, still staring forward. "If you want to live to see tomorrow, trust me. I know this base inside-out." Then I smiled. "And the next one who calls me a _crazy suicidal bastard_ will meet my next grenade"

I continued walking, as the others got up behind me and followed. We made our way down the corridor and into more corridors. The one went left, the other right and a door stood in front of us.

"Ok," Raynor said to me. "You know this base backwards, which way?"

"Well…" I tried to remember. "If my memory is as good as I think it is, the right path is useless." I thought for another second. "The doors are the shortest way to go to the destination we want and the left is the longest way to go, so I guess the choice is obvious."

"We go through the doors," the one answered, proud of himself.

"Wrong," I crushed his new found confidence. "We go left. The confederates aren't stupid. The doors will be heavily guarded, but the left should have little, if any guards." I said as I moved down the left corridor.

"Should have?" Raynor queried. "Listen, we don't have a lot of time, so I think we should take our chances with the doors"

"And I think you should follow me," I turned around.

"Or else what?" the arrogant one asked.

"Fine," I said calmly. "I'm really not in the mood to fight, so if you have a death wish, go ahead and follow Raynor. Those of you who wish to live follow me."

I waited for awhile, but no one replied. They all stood by Raynor on his choice to go through the doors. Idiots! Though, you have to admire their hatred for all things confederate.

"I get it" I said as though I realized something, which I knew from before. "I was high in the confederacy and you don't trust me. That's fine with me." I turned and began walking. "Like I said, I can finish this on my own."

"Wait!" A young voice said. "I'll come"

It was none other than Derrick, the first marine I paired up within this group. As much as I thought of him being useless, I found myself feeling good that he sided with me.

"Anyone else?" I asked, turning around as Derrick approached. Everyone still stood by Raynor. "Fine, check you in the after-life." I kept walking forward. Honestly, I kind of wished I'd gone with them. Cause around the corner, there was an enemy that would cause me a great deal of trouble. And I wonder if I had gone the other way, maybe what happened wouldn't have happened.

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**Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think.**


	5. Chapter 4: Confederates Don’t Like Trait

**Please review. To people reading this story, if you think you've seen this chapter, it's because you have. I deleted to check something. Anyway, I'm restarting this story, so I'll start with Chapter 4. Please read and review.**

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**Chapter 4: Confederates Don't Like Traitors**

I walked around the corner and, as anticipated, it was empty. Wow, shocker there. I continued walking in silence. I could hear our feet hitting the ground. It was an unsettling silence because I thought we'd see at least one guard. Derrick wouldn't put his gun down, aiming it at anything that made a sound, even if it was his imagination. It was really annoying, but kind of funny. It reminded me of Jeremy's first mission. I looked down, suddenly depressed again over my team's death. But, I quickly came back as I heard him still moving around. Poor kid. He's ready to drop of fright.

"You're going to suffer a heart attack if you don't calm down," I broke the silence. He jumped a bit and then looked at me.

"How can you be so calm?" He asked.

"I just am," I replied. "I guess I'm use to it."

"You're lucky," he complimented me, "but I'm not surprised. I heard the stories about you."

That's when I caught interest. "What stories?"

"You know," he started, "Like how you survived the infested command centre and how you took on the Hunter Killer alone and lived," he breathed for a bit. "We also looked up your record, like how you single handling killed an ultralisk or how you escaped a base with just a hand gun or how…"

"I get it already," I laughed, interrupting the poor guy. "But most of those were just instinct and a lot of luck."

"So?" he queried. "It earns you respect"

I laughed. "Obviously you've never been in the Confederacy. There's not such thing as respect."

We continued walking with no disturbances. We were extremely cautious, but still nothing happened. No turrets, no marines, no traps. Nothing. It was actually starting to bug me. I've seen more action when an old lady crosses the road.

"They should have been here by now," I said as we came up to a split in the road.

"Maybe something happened to them," Derrick suggested. "We should go check."

"No," I disagreed. "We get what we need first, and then we can check."

"What the hell!" he protested. "They could be dead by then."

"What makes you think I care?" I said coldly. I didn't mean to, it just came out.

"Wha-" he was too shocked to say a word.

"I warned them," I told him. "But once they went against what I said, their lives were out of my hands."

I continued walking forward, ignoring the stare that was burning through my skull. He was angry. I didn't think he could even show that emotion, but he did.

"You ass-hole!" he screamed. I stopped. "What the hells wrong with you? One minute you're this cool guy and then you're this cold bastard?"

I turned around to face him. "I'm finishing this mission, with or with out your help. If you want to die, go and try to save your friends, if not, come with me and we'll save them later."

"No! We go now!"

"Why do you care? You think those guys would give a damn if your head was blown off in front of them. NO! They wouldn't give a thought about it." I calmed down. "Look, the battle field is no time for feelings, it will get you killed. Trust me on that, I know. You have to know how to pick your fights logically, not by emotions."

I stood there a bit shocked at what I just said. A general had told me the exact same thing a couple of year's back, just as I told Derrick now, but I blew him off. I stared at the young soldier, reading his eyes. He wanted to tell me off, but knew I was right. He didn't say a thing and just turned down the right, heading for his team. I couldn't even hear his foot steps anymore. You had to admire his loyalty though.

"How touching," a mocking voice came from behind.

I raised my rifle, so that the target of the gun was by my sight. I searched around and found no one. I could have sworn I heard a voice.

"Where'd that voice come from?" I whispered to myself.

"I'm right here," the voice said tauntingly.

I pointed towards the voice but there was nothing standing there. That's impossible. Unless… I smirked when I finally caught on.

"What are you smiling at?" The voice changed to agitation.

"At how all you ghosts are such cowards," I mocked him. "Always hiding."

And then he slowly became visible, a man suited in a ghost uniform. Except his seemed very high-tech, much more than all the other ghosts I'd ever come across and it was all black. I stared at him, curious about the man standing in front of me. I was a good judge of character and he seemed like big trouble. I fought other ghosts and lived, but this guy seemed different. What really disturbed me were his huge sinister grin and his sharp green eyes. Everything besides his face was covered.

"Who are you?" I asked calmly.

"Me?" the man pointed to himself, sounding cocky.

"Yes you, you idiot," I raised my voice a little.

He laughed under his breath at my insult and then looked at me.

"I am Barnard Lawrence Andrew Christopher Kalper"

I looked at him, confused at this long name just given to me. I thought for a minute, because something bugged me about this man. It was mainly the two customized handguns strapped to his belt. I did hear a story about this guy but the name alluded me.

"But you can call me…" he started.

"Agent Black," I interrupted, remembering. "The deadliest ghost this side of the galaxy."

"I see that even here I'm known," he said. "How'd you know that?"

"Your initials", I explained. "B, L, A, C, K. Put them all together and you get…"

"Black," the assassin concluded. Black clapped slowly, but it was as though he was mocking me. "Very good. It's very rare to see someone figure out how I got my name. Duke said you were good, but not that good."

"So Duke sent you? Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"He thinks you're going to be a problem." Black placed his hands on his handguns.

"He'll turn against you too, you know."

He started laughing. "Like I care. I'm a mercenary, not a puppet. I go where the money takes me. Now, give up. You know this won't end well, so why make it hard?"

"It's kind of my style," I grinned.

We just stared at each other, gripping our weapons ferociously. So much so, that they would have broken if we held any tighter. It was like we could read each others minds. The one who could raise his gun the fastest would be the winner. We stood there; silence filled the air as we stared each other down. I could actually hear him breathing with all the silence, preparing to move, to shoot me down.

"Die!" he screamed as we both raised our guns.

I shot first and, to my surprise, his head flipped back, he lifelessly fell to the ground and his one gun sliding across the floor. That was so easy. I ran up to him, staying cautious. I got to him and slowed down, until I stopped completely. My left hand gripped the handle of my gun, with my index finger ready to pull the trigger. I got close enough to see over his shoulder which was covering his head. By the time I noticed there was no blood, it was too late. He flipped to face me and shot with the remaining handgun, but luckily I managed to move. Unluckily, while my heart, the intended target was safe, the bullet pierced my shoulder. Those were not normal guns. I've been shot before, but this pain was ten times worse, plus, the force of the shot actually made me spin, with my arm flung out. It felt as though a bomb had gone off in my shoulder. I wasn't able to hold onto my gun and it flew through the air as I moved around. I fell on the ground (and so did my gun. I could hear it), holding my left shoulder with my right hand. Before I knew it, Black had gotten to his feet and had, in his right hand, his gun pointed at me. I drew my one pistol and he kicked it out of my hand. I tried my second pistol, and, to my surprise (note sarcasm), he kicked that one too.

"Bye-Bye," he said ready to pull the trigger.

A shot echoed through the corridor and then another. But they sounded different; the one loud and the other, like Black's gun, that silent pierce that a silencer produces when close to it. Before I knew it, Black had fallen to the floor, on his bleeding right shoulder and dropped his gun because of the pain. As I looked up, I saw Derrick standing there with his gun. Even though I didn't see it, the scene probably played out like this… Black, who was about to shoot me, got shot in the arm by Derrick, hence the first gunshot. The second, hitting the ground, came from Black's gun; because as he fell, his finger must have pulled the trigger, firing the bullet that was meant for my head. Lucky me. He then hit the ground on his shoulder, forcing him to drop the gun and cause pain. Awesome.

His back facing towards me, Black tried to reach for his gun with his left hand. I grabbed his right shoulder and pulled him on his back. I got on top of him and as much as it hurt, hit him with my left hand, while holding him down with my right. I hit him again and again. I could tell Derrick was trying to get a good shot, but it wasn't working for him. Black had managed to kick me off of him. We got to our feet and began fighting, which started with my getting a couple of shots in and then Black beating me with his karate crap. I tried to punch, but he'd grab my arm, twist a bit and started kicking my stomach. I prayed that Derrick would shoot, but he might hit me, so he didn't. The man continued to beat me, until Derrick ran into him, which lead to him getting his assed kicked. Can't believe this! We truly suck. He was the best, but it didn't change the fact we were getting our asses whipped. Two on one and we were still losing. He kicked me away and I fell onto the floor, a little dazed. I looked behind me and saw a way out of this situation. I got up and moved for it, while Derrick took a beating. He was on the floor, with Black laughing, moving for one of his guns. He picked it up and went to Derrick, standing over him, pointing his gun.

"Go to hell," he said to Derrick.

"You first!" I said and as he turned, placed three bullets into his heart.

He fell to the ground, and this time I was sure he was dead. I helped Derrick up and as he cleaned the blood off his face, I examined Black's body. He, strangely enough, had no spare ammo clips. This guy was way over confident. I found nothing useful, picked up my guns, cleaned as my face as much as I could and walked off. I turned around to see Derrick take out the magazines of Black's guns.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm just superstitious of bodies jumping back up," he said, looking at Black's body.

"Then why not just take the guns," I queried.

"It's bad luck," he said. I laughed hard and then he added. "I'm serious."

"Whatever," I dropped it and we continued walking. A minute later, a thought popped into my head. "Why'd you come back?"

"Honestly?" he asked, sounding ashamed.

I ignored his question. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"Well then you shouldn't be ashamed of being scared."

He looked at me like he was ready to protest, but he was too shocked at the fact I knew why he came back. "How'd you…"

"Know?" I completed his sentence. "Because I joined when I was 18 and once I wet my pants."

He laughed. "Seriously?"

"Yes. And if you so much as tell that to anyone, I'll shoot you myself."

We talked about our pasts as we came up to another corridor. Derrick had never known his real parents and was practically brought up through the army by his adoptive parents. He had no siblings, adopted or biological. We carried on walking and talking, until I heard a click of some kind. I grabbed Derrick, pulled down and as we both hit the ground, machine-gun turrets rose from the floor and began firing at us. I could feel the bullets just flying over us. I grabbed another two of my grenades, un-pinned them and rolled the grenades, which went down the opening in the floor where the machine guns came up from. The one turret blew and so did the one next to it. We got to our feet. We have to by a bit more careful in the future. I'm too young to die. Finally, after climbing some steps, we made it to a beacon; a Portal that would take us to our destination. We entered it and came out at the other end. I hated portals almost as much as elevators. They break you down and rebuild you. They make me really nauseous, really agitated and really paranoid about if everything was put back in the right place. We walked towards the door. As it opened, we let it rip; killing five guards before they knew what had hit them.

"Knock-knock," I joked as the bodies dropped.

We quickly ran into the room and closed the doors, incase the turrets in there decided they didn't want company.

"Unauthorized entry detected," the advisor/computer said as three marines came around the corner.

"Blast them!" the one marine said, opening fire.

We were all quite a distance away, but still, their aim was pitiful. What do they teach them now-a-days? I'm mean come on; I'm in front of you with no cover. Anyway, we easily disposed of them, turned the corner and entered the room we were looking for. Before anything could happen, I took down the ghost. I had enough of there kind for one day. Derrick took down one marine as well as one fire-bat. We took cover behind the walls at the door and began a fire-fight. Guns were all that was heard and bullets hitting metal soon followed. I put my rifle away and drew both my handguns. I was way better and more accurate with them. I ran across the door way, shooting at the three marines there, hitting (and killing) two of them. While I distracted the one, Derrick had a chance to finish him off. After all that was finally done, we walked into a room with a lot of technological stuff and computers. Derrick went to the main one and tried to download the data onto a disk.

"We got a problem," he said, staring at the screen.

"What problem?" I asked.

"We need a password."

"Try… White Wolves."

"White Wolves?" Derrick gave me a weird look.

"Just try it," I commanded.

"Fine"

"Error," the computer spat out the disk.

"Damn!" I cursed, moving Derrick out of the way. "Duke must have changed it."

I tried to place my team's codes in, but they were all deleted too. Derrick was trying to say something, but I was concentrating on a password, so I ignored him. I thought for a minute and then came with one. "The British Ghost". It worked, too my surprise. Even though she wasn't there, Annabeth still came through in the end. Don't ask how I knew her password, it's a long story. Derrick downloaded the files, and then turned to me.

"Came we go find them now?" He asked.

"Sure," I agreed. "But I wonder if we can access the cameras from here?"

"I can," Derrick said, punching the keys of the keyboard.

"Why didn't you say you could do that bef…?" I stopped when I realized he did try, I was just ignoring him. "Sorry 'bout that."

The cameras came on showing the entire platform, but only one image caught our eye; seven guards, leading Raynor and two other marines down one path, surrounding them like they were cattle. One look at the route they were taking and I knew where they were going; the prison cells.

"We can head them off," I said, devising a plan. I picked up a radio and contacted the magistrate.

"Parker," he greeted. "Everything going well, I presume."

"You could say that," I replied.

"What can I do for you?" He asked.

"We've found the plans. Have the transports waiting when we come out." I thought for a minute. "And tell them to wait for a little while."

"Why?" he asked, confused.

"Because we still have some unfinished business with our Confederate friends."

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**Thanx For Reading. Please tell me what you think.**


	6. Chapter 5: I Save Raynor's Ass

**Again, to people reading this story, if you think you've seen this chapter, it's because you have. I deleted it as well to put chapter 4 up. Please read and review.**

**ONCE AGAIN: PLEASE REVIEW**

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**Chapter 5: I Save Raynor's Ass**

"What's the plan?" Derrick asked as I switched off the radio.

"First things first," I looked at the computer. "Can you switch off the turrets from the computer?

"Please," Derrick bragged. "Give me a challenge"

He did something with the keyboard and turned to tell me that every type of defense from locked doors to rocket turrets was off.

"Here's a challenge," I told him. "Find a portal beacon closest to the prison cells and have this portal transport us there."

Again, his fingers hit the keyboard. It took a bit longer than before, but he managed to do it. I complimented on the good work. He reminded me of Jeremy. That boy could pull anything off with a computer. We ran back to the portal and teleported to where we needed to be. We traveled through the door in front of us and came up to a three-way split in the road. Forward and right was the way to the prison, while left was our way out. I told Derrick the plan. We split up after that, while he went straight, I went right. I turned the corner and moved of the door straight ahead. I placed my rifle away and drew my hand guns. I was only going to have a few seconds to take out five guys, so I had to be ready. I had to be precise. I stood by the door. I could hear them coming up, past the door. They always took the longer route to taunt their prisoners. It was an unnecessary tactic, but believe it or not, some guys actual broke during it, spilling their entire life story. It was almost time. I got ready to run through the door. I waited for the signal and it finally happened. A machine gun went off and the commotion behind the door started as the shots went off again. Behind the door, I could hear _'man down' _and _'he got another one'_. They began to fire and that was my cue. I moved into the room with my guns up, but by the time they noticed I was there I'd shot three in the head, then the fourth and it would have been five if Derrick hadn't killed his third guy. Raynor and the two remaining marines just stared at me. They knew what was coming next…

"You try to warn them," I taunted. "But they don't listen. No, they think you know nothing. They move to the wrong door and get captured. So then you have to save their asses before they get fried."

"Shut up!" the arrogant one said. Yep, two marines died and **he** had to be one of the lucky ones. I'm cursed.

"Listen," I said as they picked up weapons. "We can talk about this later. The ships are waiting and we're leaving."

"What about the prison?" the other marine said.

"What about the prison?" Derrick asked as he walked over.

"There could be men in there," the arrogant one said, moving for the closed door in front of us. "It can't hurt."

He opened the doors and standing in front of us were zerglings. Sharp claws, razor teeth, mutated looking zerglings. About eight of them, just staring at us with hatred in there eyes and there mouths opened. I think I saw one drooling. Maybe it was hungry and thought we were its food. They must have been let out of their cells when Derrick unlocked everything. I gave a dirty look to the arrogant marine and then to Raynor.

"If we get out of here alive," I said to him and looked back at the arrogant guy. "I'm going to shoot him."

The zerglings charged for us and we all like our rifles shoot. We hit all of them dead in no time and no one died. Someone upstairs must really like us today. While staring at the bloody zerglings lying on the floor a thought crossed my mind: Why the hell were there zerglings here anyway? I decided to drop it when I thought of our transport. I faced the four marines.

"Now," I said slowly. "If we're all done looking for problems, can we please leave?"

"No," Raynor said. "We have to get the data."

I pulled out the disk and tossed it to him. "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Now let's get going."

Our trek through the maze of this installation was over rather quickly. We came to the place where our ship was. It had landed on the ground, but there was no one outside to greet us. Both pilots were in their chairs, but didn't even turn to look at us. Something was very wrong with this picture.

"Something's not right here," I said, looking around, getting into a fighting stance.

"What now?" Raynor said, looking at me.

"Something's wrong with this picture," I commented on the silence. Then I realized the arrogant marine was moving forward. "Did you hear me?"

"Listen," he said as the cover over his head moved up, revealing his face. "If you want me to stand here because you have a 'bad feeling', you can drop dead."

And as he said that he turned forward… only to get his head blow off. Blood splattered across the floor and his body dropped. It was a shocking sight, but I can't say I was depressed for long, because that would be a lie. Before we knew what was happening, another shot penetrated Derrick's body. Now I was extremely shocked. He fell back and hit the cold floor. The one marine went to check on him, and while he tried to keep him alive, Raynor checked on the dead marine. I looked forward and then saw two handguns suddenly become visible, as they fell to the floor. I then heard a click, as the guns hit the metal floor and I turned my head left and right. I noticed two bombs about to detonate.

"Take cover!" I screamed on instinct.

The bombs blew. Two explosions went up from each side. I ran towards the transport and hit the ground. The force was so strong it lifted Raynor, Derrick, the dead guy and the other marine off the ground a little and they all fell on the cold floor, hurt and groaning a bit. Thankfully, the blasts weren't close enough to me to pick me up, but I did drop my rifle and it slid away. Story of my life. I was about to check on the team, when I heard a mocking laugh right in front of me. I rose to my feet and drew my pistols, only to have them hit out of my hands. The laughing man continued chuckling and then kicked me back. I caught on whose voice it was and looked up in shock. He must have read my mind, because as I caught on, he un-cloaked himself. The man appeared before me and I was shocked to see him standing right in front of me.

"Black," I whispered loudly to myself. "But how?"

He laughed more. "It's called a bulletproof vest, you prick."

"But your guns?" I thought. "Derrick threw away the magazines and you had no spare clips."

"There was still one bullet in each chamber," he grinned evilly and kicked me away again. "Time to die, Parker."

I tried to hit him, but he blocked and kicked me again followed by a couple of punches. I blocked one of his punches and returned the favour, hitting him three more times. I kneed him in the stomach and then threw him away. He got up and into a fighting stance. I tried to kick him, but he grabbed my leg, pulled me closer and slammed his fist into my face. I was a bit dazed, when he kicked me in the face. My nose was bleeding and I fell to the ground. He stood on my shoulder wound he had caused earlier. I screamed in agony. He lifted his foot again and it came down on my shoulder again. I screamed again as he laughed. He was about to stomp on me again, but a shot rang through the room. Black looked in pain and I noticed Raynor behind him with a hand gun. I knew his vest would protect his back too, but it still hurt like hell. I climbed to my feet and hit him in the face twice, followed by me punching his stomach.

"Get on the ship!" I told Raynor as I pummeled Black's gut.

Every punch, Black moved back. When he tried to block, I'd hit him quickly with my other fist. He got some shots in, but clearly, I was winning. I kicked him away as I noticed everyone was in the ship. While he was trying to clear his daze, I grabbed my handgun on the floor and pointed it to him. He could see straight again. I could tell by the grin on his bloody, bruised face.

"You going to shoot me now?" he asked, still grinning.

"It did cross my mind," I said. "Any last words?"

"No," he replied holding his belt. "You only give last words when you're about to die."

"And your not?" I asked him.

"No," he said, slowly moving for a bomb on his belt. "I will admit. I under-estimated you." His hand was on the bomb now.

"You know I'll shoot you before you can throw that?"

"Who said I was going to throw it. We will meet again. And next time, you won't be so lucky."

"We won't be meeting again. I promise you."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep."

As it fell to the ground, it blew causing a giant flash that blinded me temporarily and caused a smoke-screen. I just started shooting into the smoke, but I knew he was gone. I emptied the clip. I would have chased after him, if Raynor hadn't called me. I reluctantly climbed into the ship, but my thoughts changed when I saw Derrick lying on the floor, hanging on to his life by a thread. I looked out the transport door as it closed and we took off. I thought of how, when I find him again, I was going to kill Black. I turned to my shoulder which was aching. I didn't even realize the wound was still there. My adrenalin didn't let me remember it. I didn't realize how much blood I had lost back there. I felt dizzy again, but not because of being hit, but because of the blood lose. All I remember from then was the marine asking if I was okay. After that, everything went dark. I had passed out.

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**For all who have read up to here, I greatly apreaciate it. Please let me know what you think.**


	7. Chapter 6: I Make A Choice

**Okay, now this is the official restart of this story. A brand new chapter that no one has seen before. So, here we go. Chapter 6. Please read and tell me what you think.**

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**Chapter 6: I Make A Choice**

I shot up, much to my disappointment, because the pain in my shoulder brought me back down. I looked around, expecting to be in some secret facility where I was being experimented on by deformed, green creatures sprouting tentacles from their heads. Instead I was in the medical wing of a Battle Cruiser. Talk about anti-climactic. What did help though was the blonde, blue-eyed girl watching me rest.

"Samantha Marsh," I smirked. "So, we meet again."

"I guess so," she smiled. "How you feeling?"

"Like I was shot in the shoulder. Oh, wait…"

She laughed. "Very funny."

I sat up slowly, getting use to the pain. "How long have I been out?"

"Four days."

"FOUR DAYS? What the hell was I shot with?"

She laughed again. "Oops…did I say days? I meant hours."

"Very funny," I replied as I rubbed my head.

Obviously they had given me some kind of drug, because I felt kind of weird. I tried remembering what happened. I remember Black. I remember the arrogant guy getting shot. I remember…oh crap.

"Where's Derrick?" I quickly asked.

"He just came out of surgery," she answered, expecting the question. "He's fine."

"Good," I replied, looking around. "Um, where's my equipment?"

"Equipment?"

"Guns, armor, that stuff."

"You're kidding, right? You were patched up four hours ago. You're not ready to hold any type of equipment."

"Oh please. I've been in worse conditions. All I need to do is have a drug addiction for a few months until it heals. It will be like I never got shot."

"I am not giving you pain killers for a bullet wound so you can go and get more."

"Who said I'm going to get more? I'm getting off at the next stop. I just need them in case I run into trouble. You know… and to fly the wraith out of here."

"So you're really leaving?" She almost looked upset.

"Do you want me to stay?" I asked.

"Why would I want you to do that? We barely know each other." She looked at her watch. "I got to go and check on Derrick. You're stuff is in the locker behind me. And… and here…" she pulled a bottle out of the cabinet and tossed it too me. "Don't take too many. They can make you pass out."

And then she left after saying good bye. She looked disappointed when I said it back. Maybe I should stay? What am I thinking? I'm not going to stay behind because of a girl. I must be out of my mind for even thinking that, right? Right. So, anyway, I stood up and headed for my stuff. I suited up, holstered by handguns, popped some pills and took my rifle. I exited the medical room and headed for the briefing room. I found Raynor and the magistrate there last time; I would most likely find them there this time. And I did…well, l found the magistrate at least.

"Oh, Parker," he said as he looked up from a bunch of papers. "Come in. Good to see you up and about."

"Like-wise," I replied as I stared at him. "So…what happens now?"

"Don't know," he answered. "We are currently over Antiga Prime."

"Antiga Prime? Why?"

"Mengsk ordered our forces here. Don't know what he's got planned for us."

"This us…does it include me?"

He looked up. "Do you want it to?"

"Not really. I don't think so. Actually no. Maybe."

He laughed. "Mengsk did say your call was battle."

"Did he now?"

"Yes. Despite what you may think of Mengsk, he finds you to be very useful. It's a shame he's giving you up so easily."

"Giving up on me? Does that mean…"

"Yes. Your Wraith is prepped and ready. You may leave anytime you wish."

"Great! How's about…" Before I could finish my sentence, Raynor decided to walk into the room.

"Hey, man." He greeted me and then greeted the magistrate. "Headquarters has begun analysis of the discs. They expect to have them decoded shortly. I hope whatever's on those discs is worth it."

"Receiving incoming transmission from Arcturus Mengsk," the advisor said. I hate it when that computer just shows up. It scares the crap out of me.

Mengsk, the smile ball, appeared on screen in all his glory. But, my focus immediately went to the girl next to him. She had long, fiery-red hair and green eyes. She was slim and had this serious expression on her face, though it wasn't very off-putting or annoying. She just looked deep in thought. I watched her for a couple of seconds, but then her thoughts must have stopped because she noticed me staring at her. She gave me a suspicious look, but my attention was dragged away from her by Mengsk talking.

"You and Captain Raynor have done well, commander." I coughed to let Mengsk know to give me credit to, but he ignored it. Bastard. "I believe our efforts have weakened the Confederacy's grip on the fringe worlds, but our job out here isn't done yet. Lieutenant Kerrigan, my second in command, will elaborate."

The red head, Kerrigan, stepped forward. "I'll get straight to the point. Our sources tell us that Antiga Prime is ready to begin open revolt against the Confederacy. Unfortunately, the Confederates seem to be aware of this as well. They've stationed a large detachment of Alpha Squadron troops there, under the command of General Duke."

"General Duke?" I queried.

"Yes," she replied. "Is there an issue?"

"No, not at all," I replied. "Just wondering how you plan to take care of General Duke's personal busboys. I insult them, but they're not as weak as you might think."

"Well do fine," she replied.

"Do you have a plan?"

"We're making one."

"Only now? You should be on Plan C right now."

"Would you shut up?" She snapped, clearly annoyed.

"Fine," I replied, though I couldn't help thinking that this girl, this banshee, was going to be a thorn in their side.

"Banshee?" She queried.

"How'd…"

"I can read your mind, you jack-ass."

"Oh God, you're a ghost. I hate ghosts. Mengsk, carry on with the briefing."

Mengsk seemed surprised that I spoke to him… him being more interested in the growing conflict between myself and Kerrigan over there.

Mengsk cleared his throat. "Yes, well, it will be your job, Commander, to free this colony and show our good intent to the Antigan people. Lieutenant Kerrigan will help you deal with Duke's officers. The rest of the Confederates are yours to deal with."

And then the screen went blank. Raynor and the magistrate looked at each other and then turned towards me. I knew exactly what they were thinking and exactly what they wanted.

"No way," I quickly blurted.

"Come on, man," Raynor said. "You know Alpha Squadron better than anyone. You can help us."

"No chance," I replied. "I am not helping you get in there."

"Can you at least answer a question?" the magistrate asked.

I sighed. "Fine. What is it?"

"How does one General stop an entire group of soldiers from revolting without wiping them out?"

"What?"

"Think about it. The Antigans are still standing. Why? If I was Duke, I would have wiped them out. And if I was the Antigans, I would immediately revolt if they tried to shut my base down."

"That's true. But they are soldiers. Disciplined soldiers. If I wanted to stop a revolt and not look like I'm attacking, then the easiest way would be to get my officers into their Command Centre and take their general and his family hostage without anyone knowing. That way, he can't order the revolt and no body has a clue. I'd also fill that building with a couple of my own men. It's so big, who's gonna know? Odds are Duke has got his claws into the leader of that base. Take out his officers and that general will give you his base willingly."

"Thank you."

"No problem," I replied. "Oh, and you might want to be careful of the _mercenaries_ outside the base. I take you any bet Duke put some Confederates out there under the guise of mercenaries hired by the Antigan general."

"You've done this before, haven't you?" The magistrate asked.

"I've done a lot of things. Can I go now?"

"You may."

I turned to walk out, but Raynor grabbed my shoulder to stop me. He turned me around to look him straight in the eye.

"I know you want to get off this ship," he started. No kidding. "But, we could really use your help. You're skilled, big time. You could be a great help to us."

"I'd love to, really…but I've had enough of the Confederacy for one life time."

"Just think about it. You have time. We'll be down there for a while."

I nodded. "Okay, I'll give it some thought. But no promises."

I turned and walked out, leaving them to their plans. I continued walking until I made it to the hanger. I proceeded to get into my Wraith and before I started it up, I looked around, wondering if I should stay. Alpha Squadron is not an easy enemy to have. But…I'm sure they can handle it. Arcturus will have a plan. That slime ball always has a plan. Anyway, I prepared the ship and then, like lightning, I was out of there. I flew for a little while, just thinking of what to do next. My team was dead. I wondered if I should have like ceremony for them. But who would come? Me. I mean, all of them are dead and then only other person who was remotely close to us was Annabeth, who has disappeared into thin air. I don't even know if she is alive. Maybe I could do mercenary work? It sounds good. I'm my own boss. But I would need a few men to help me out. What about…And it was at that point when I saw it. Giant, metal, armed and deadly. Norad II. A Battle Cruiser. Otherwise known as Duke's personal Battle Cruiser. And it was heading straight for Antiga Prime. Duke on Antiga. I could go down there and get my revenge. I could also try to blow him out of the sky now, but I promise he'd have me dead first. Battle Cruisers are too big and tough for one Wraith to take down. Even if I'm the flying it. I quickly pressed a button which cloaked my aircraft. Didn't need them seeing, now did I?

I moved past the ship, preparing to just fly away. But something stopped me. Duke was on that ship. He was heading straight for Antiga. I mean, I had allies on there, or at least people who could help me get to him, even if it is unintentional. And they could use my help, right? I mean, am I going to get an opportunity to go after this man again. One like this, where I know I'll have some form of back up. I groaned as I made my decision and turned the ship, heading towards the planet. Okay, if I was going to do this, I'd have to do it smoothly. First thing's first; I need to make some modifications to this ship so they don't blow me down. I might not be brilliant with computers and that stuff, but I could change the ID signature of a ship from a rebel to a Confederate in my sleep. Now that that was done, I flew down to the planet. It was quickly ride and as I came upon the Antigan base, it was as I had expected. Confederates – sorry, I meant mercenaries – were camping outside the base in bunkers, just waiting for an enemy. No, they weren't waiting, they were shooting. I tried to look at what they were firing at, only to find Kerrigan taking cover by a rock in the middle of nowhere. Why? How'd they spot her? I was answered as I flew over the turrets. Turrets can detect any cloaked object. Lucky for me, they didn't fire at me, meaning they thought I was a confederate. Great guns.

I flew over them and turned, aiming at the one turret. I fired two missiles which hit directly, blowing the thing straight to hell. So much for sneaking in? The bad news was that the Confederates obviously knew that I wasn't one of them. The good news was that the turrets didn't. To them, this craft was still an ally, which made it exceptionally easy for me to blow the two remaining ones away and even get one bunker down. The marines under me all pointed their guns upwards, but by the time they could aim at me, I was gone. Cloaked. And so was Kerrigan by the looks of it. The marines screamed something to each other and then took off in the opposite direction, away from their base. They must have thought Kerrigan was just a soldier and not a ghost. Oh well, their loss, our gain.

I flew around and then found a spot behind the Command Centre where no one was guarding. I landed the cloaked Wraith and quickly jumped out. By the time it uncloaked and someone noticed that I wasn't there, we would have taken back this base; I promise you that. I prepped my gun and faced the Command Centre, before walking in. Part 1, getting into the base was done. It was time for part 2…taking this base back.

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**Thanx for reading. Please review and let me know what you think. Like if I'm doing any right or if I'm doing anything wrong. Thanx again.**


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